Erick Sosa, left, and Mark Kibby enjoy a day of fun with their sons, Cole and Parker Sosa-Kibby. Credit: Dave Ouano Photography

Despite a growing acceptance of gay and lesbian couples, 30 percent of Americans still think pets rank higher than a gay partner as a family member.

Unmarried same-sex couples with children, as well as married gay and lesbian couples with kids, are quickly gaining acceptance as families by Americans, according to a recent study. But, when children are not involved, same-sex married partners rank lower than the family dog in the 'who is family, who is not' category.

"There's been an increasing receptiveness to include same-sex couples in people's definitions of family," study co-author Brian Powell tells ParentDish. A sociology professor at Indiana University in Bloomington, his findings are reported in his new book, "Counted Out: Same-Sex Relations and Americans' Definitions of Family," published this month by the Russell Sage Foundation.

"But, it comes down to the fact that people believe that only if there is a child, there is a family," he says. "A child connotes permanence, and we discovered that even if a family breaks up, we still consider them a family when there is a child."

Between 2003 and 2010, three surveys conducted by Powell's team showed a significant shift toward counting same-sex couples with children as family -- from 54 percent of respondents in 2003 to 68 percent in 2010. In all, more than 2,300 people were surveyed. Powell links the changing attitudes to a 10 percent rise between 2003 and 2010 in the share of survey respondents who reported having a gay friend or relative.

In their most recent 2010 telephone survey of 830 people, Americans were almost equally divided on same-sex marriage.

"I don't think people are ready to embrace it, but people are ready to accept it," Powell says.

In 2006, when asked if gay couples and pets count as family, 30 percent said pets count but not gay couples. In the 2010 survey, 83 percent of the respondents said they perceived unmarried heterosexual couples with children as a family; 40 percent extended that recognition to unmarried straight couples without children.

But Powell is quick to point out the disparity in what is defined as "family," which evolves around the legality of a marriage license, religious views and/or taking care of a child.

"I like to use the pun, 'this should give us paws,' but fact that gay couples are given less status than pets should be something we should think strongly about," he says.

Powell compares the positive shift in the view of same-sex families to the gradual acceptance of interracial marriage in the 1960s.

"People are definitely expanding their definition of what is family," he says.

Erik Sosa, a Kenosha, Wisc. stay-at-home dad who parents two young boys with his partner Mark Kibby, says he's seen a positive change in the way people perceive the couple in the last three years since they adopted the boys, both now 4.

"When we first moved in, it took the neighbors a little while to accept us as family," says Sosa, who is called "Papa" by the boys and is not married to Kibby, who is called "Daddy."

The couple moved to the suburban town when they adopted Cole and Parker Sosa-Kibby from Guatamala when the boys were 5 months old.

"What is really interesting to me is how much people see the commonalities in what I do and the other housewives on the block are doing every day," Sosa says. "Basically, we all have the same struggles as parents and all of us believe that the children come first and we come second. Families aren't about sex, they're about parenting and the definition is revolving to mean people who love each other and want to create a life together. "

TheTalkies:RelatedVideos

Missouri Family Sex Case Charges Being DroppedA prosecutor said Wednesday she was dropping all charges against five men accused of sexually molesting young relatives on a U.S. farm more than 20 years ago, saying she doubted she could convince a jury that the bizarre claims were true. (March 7)

Mind-Blowing Sex in Your 50sDr. Pepper Schwartz, sex expert and AARP ambassador gives five tips on how to have mind-blowing sex in your 50s. Schwartz is an author and professor of sociology at the University of Washington. She is also a senior fellow at the Council on Contemporary Families, a nonprofit organization that gathers research on American families, and chairperson of the advisory board for the PhD in Sexual Studies at the Institut.

'Sex Tape' Cloud Mishap Just Not Plausible“No one understands the cloud!” At least not the two main characters in the new farce comedy Sex Tape. The movie recounts the tale of a long-married couple, Annie and Jay, who want to rejuvenate their sex lives. Their solution? Make a sex tape. Actually, it's really a digital video on their iPad. The night goes as planned, but then the video somehow ends up in the cloud and soon it's shared with the couple's friends, family and acquaintances.

A Second Hulk Hogan Sex Tape On Its WayFollowing the controversial leak of Hulk's “secretly filmed” sex tape, it is now being reported that a second sex tape featuring the WWF champ is just around the corner. RadarOnline.com reports that Hogan has confessed to his immediate family that this isn't the first time his sexcapades could have been filmed. A source says, “Hulk is very concerned that a new sex tape could emerge.”

ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)

I agree with Mom9397...a family isnt made up of a specific group comprised by designated gender. A family is any group of people who love one another and take care of each other. My partner and I are not married, and have no children together, though we each have children from previous relationships, we are still a family...love makes a family...end of story.

I agree with the previous comments. Opinions of the general public, in the long run, mean nothing. Those who create thier own kinds of loving families are what's important, and t is very heartwarming to see families such as the Sosa-Kibby household. Thanks and best wishes!

I think this will continue to change for the better as kids in school and young adults in college move into the working world. Our parents grew up in a time when it was (even more) dangerous to come out of the closet and when it was still illegal to be gay. It's hard for even the most progressive of them to switch gears from that time to this one, when the LGBTQ community has a voice and is earning more rights every day and have such a rich community of straight supporters. The opposition is loud, but I know more people who support LGBTQ rights than don't and again, I think the voices of the opposition will be drowned out more as time goes on and kids born in the late eighties and nineties come into their adulthood and political voice.

My heart fell into my chest. Why do people continue to write about things like this? Blogtards write this crap without thinking children may believe what they write. No wonder why suicide is prevalent among gay teenagers.

Gay teenagers struggle with acceptance from their family, friends, classmates and now their own gay peers. This blogtard should have known better. I am sure there is nothing is worse than a gay peer bombarding young minds that no one really loves them and society thinks they are less than dogs.

We really need to start holding people accountable with what they write. This blogtard could have chosen to write something to strengthen the weak, but they chose something that may have ended someone's life today. Shame on this person!

I liked the article. It was interesting to see that my experience was more typical than I had realized. Some of my family members are consevative. They always made it clear that they loved me. But, they were slow to accept my partner as a member of the family. This changed rather dramatically after my partner and I adopted a child. All of a sudden, my partner was seen as a member of the family, because she is my son's other mother.